[SunRescue] Questions on SparcServer1000(E) and SS10? (And thanks for previou s help!)

[Peter L. Wargo]

> with the performance. Solaris 2.8 surprised me, as I thought
> it would be slower than it is with only SM61 CPUs to play with.

Actually, sun keeps making the OS faster as time goes on, and 8 works
quite well on MP systems.  It rocks on an E10K.

> 1) On the front of the machine (with the front cover removed),
> next to the reset switch is a DB25 connector. Is this a serial
> port of some sort? I examined the bus-controller card, but
> didn't see anything remotely resembling a serial interface chip.
> I'm assuming that the serial boot port is serial port 0 on the
> top motherboard. If that's the case, then what is the DB25 port
> on the front of the unit for?

JTAG interface.  Not really used in the field...

> 2) The first two keyswitch positions are ON and OFF. What are
> the other two positions for? My guess is the 4th (farthest 
> clockwise position) locks the keyboard, but what is the 3rd for?

Diag mode.

> 
> Slightly off topic, I'm also trying to restore an SS10.
> Over the years I've found more than enough info on the
> web to do this, but there is one thing I haven't found...
> Just what are the 4 short SDIMM-like connectors next to the
> "real" SDIMM memory connectors for? Some type of cache
> expansion?  I've never run across an SS10 with -anything-
> in these sockets, so it's piqued my curiosity. Anyone
> have any idea?

On a palin SS10, they are for the NVRAM simm that does prestoserve. On the
10SX and the 20, they can also be used for VSIMMs.


-Pete